Tanzania's High Court has acquitted opposition leader Tundu Lissu of treason but convicted him of the lesser offence of incitement and sentenced him to four years in prison, in a verdict that has drawn international condemnation. The three-judge panel in Dar es Salaam delivered its split ruling on Friday, 6 November 2026, ending treason proceedings that had kept Lissu in detention for more than 18 months.

Prosecutors failed on treason

The panel, led by Justice Dunstan Ndunguru, found that prosecutors had not proved the treason charge, which had carried a possible death sentence. The court said the prosecution failed to establish that Lissu intended to intimidate the government, a key element of the offence. However, it convicted him of incitement under Section 390 of the Penal Code, using Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows a court to convict on a lesser offence where the evidence supports it.

The "No Reforms, No Election" campaign

Lissu, chairman of the opposition CHADEMA party, was arrested on 9 April 2025 in Mbinga, in the Ruvuma region, after campaigning under the slogan "No Reforms, No Election". The court ruled that his public statements urging citizens to disrupt the October 2025 general election amounted to incitement. Lissu described the original treason charge as a political fabrication, saying the court had confirmed "what we have said from day one".

Condemnation and appeal

Amnesty International called the conviction and sentence a travesty of justice, saying Lissu had spent 577 days in arbitrary detention for peacefully exercising his rights. CHADEMA has announced plans to appeal the conviction at the Court of Appeal and to seek bail for Lissu while the appeal is heard.